BMW confirms super sedan

German maker's M performance division to develop a sports version of the Gran Coupe.

BMW confirms super sedan

BMW has confirmed there will be an M version of the new Gran Coupe sedan.

The man most likely to lead the new project, M5 and M6 project leader Siegfried Friedmann, confirmed a more powerful, harder edged version of the Gran Coupe would appear in showrooms in 2013.

Disguised versions of the four-door have been captured circling Germany's famed Nurburgring for some months, but this is the first official confirmation of a planned launch date.a program exists. A production version of the car is expected to appear at the Paris motor show in September.

But Friedmann played down suggestions the new model would be the first M sedan to have all-wheel-drive underpinnings.

An all-wheel-drive version of the Gran Coupe will become available in the United States in August, but Friedmann says the extra weight of an all-wheel-drive system means it is less than ideal for an M model.

"Of course four-wheel-drive has its specific benefits but on the other hand you lose the characteristics that we have had on our cars in the past," he says.

"There is no final decision, as much as I know, to go to four-wheel-drive for an M car at the moment," he says.

For the same reasons, an M version of the 7-Series - as speculated by the British media - is also unlikely.

"Perhaps there will be a decision that we go into an M7 model but up until now we have discussed this and found that a 7-Series car is not an appropriate choice for an M car," he says.

He says the car would be too big and heavy to work as a sports model.

"It is better to have 1000kg than 1000 horsepower," he says.

On that score, he says that the company has not ruled out downsizing its M car engines further. The new M6's twin-turbo V8 replaces a V10 in the previous mode, and a six-cylinder is the likely progression in the longer term future.

"In terms of efficiency it would be best but I don't think our customers would like it," he says.

"You can never say never though."

He says a two-wheel-drive M car is also not out of the question.

"If a lot of things change, why not a front-wheel-drive?" he says.

One current trend the M division is unlikely to adopt is hybrid power.

He says hybrids simply make the car heavier, more complex and more expensive.

"Having worked on hybrids I don't see a big future for hybrids," he says.